Still no word yet on his departure date, but a map drawn by Saito-san arrived in the morning's emails, and we were expecting a call later.

He drew this Oct. 9 before the departure delay, so the days of the week are now a week or more out of sync. It shows that from Punta Arenas, Chile, he will continue NE on the Strait of Magellan, sail into the South Atlantic Ocean, follow the coast to pass on either the west or east side of the Ils de los Estados, then south and west until he reaches a point slightly north of where the tow started.

As he indicates on the map, the choice of a west or east passage at Ils de los Estados will depend on the currents.

The route is almost exactly 500 nm to the point of the tow start and is expected to take about 5 days. Last week he told us by Iridium that he will attempt to stay within 10 - 30 nm off Cape Horn to avoid an increased chance of colliding with ice further south.

Here's his hand-drawn map, sent by Hanaoka-san. [Click to enlarge.]

Here's the Google Earth version with his return route shown in green.

The red path was his route during the first attempt in April. [Click to enlarge.]